Posted on 05/15/2019
Nellie (Nell) C. Wilson, 98, of Henrietta, Texas, moved to her eternal home Wednesday, May 8, 2019, after a brief battle with advanced colon cancer. She passed peaceably at home in the company of her husband of seventy-six years and her children. The family will receive friends at a visitation from 6:00pm until 7:00pm Friday, May 17th at Davis Funeral Home, 316 South Bridge Street, Henrietta. Saturday, May 18th, at 10:30am there will be a burial service at Riverland Cemetery. We will depart from Trinity Church, 902 East Gilbert Street in Henrietta at 10:00am. A memorial service follows at 11:30 am at Trinity Church. Nell was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on February 13, 1921. Her grandparents, Hasell and Annie Boddy, had migrated in 1897 from farming in Iowa to ranching in Clay County. With difficulty, Nell's father, a bank officer, brought the family through the Great Depression. He died when his daughter was fifteen years old. Nell graduated from Lake Charles public high school. She attended Newcomb College in New Orleans, then transferred to the University of Texas in Austin for her last two years, staying for graduate work studying the genetics of the fruit fly. While at Newcomb, Nell met her future husband, Donald Edward Wilson, Sr., of New Orleans, then a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. He remarked to a friend, "I'm going to marry that girl." He did, in 1943 in Seattle, Washington, while helping replace the bow of his ship lost to enemy action off of Guadalcanal. Shortly after World War II, Don returned to civilian life. The family settled in Metairie, Louisiana, next to New Orleans. Here they raised four sons. Nell was a loved wife, mother and skilled homemaker. She was a Cub Scout den mother and president of the parish-wide Parent Teacher Association during the difficult years as the school system racially integrated - which she supported. For several years, Nell sponsored and oversaw the Family Significance essay-writing contest held in the parish schools. She transported her athletic sons to numerous practices, games and tournaments, all the while making them eat their spinach. When Don retired from the construction industry, the two moved to property north of Henrietta in 1984. Here, with help from the district conservationist and extension agents, Nell followed her longstanding interest in being a faithful steward of the bounty she had inherited. Nell was a long-time member of the Society of Range Management and the Nobel Foundation. Nell was busy locally. With her husband, she delivered Meals on Wheels for several years. She was active in Trinity Church, serving many terms on its lay governing body. She was an early member of the Clay County Historical Society, spearheading the original capital campaign to restore the 1898 Jail and Museum. Today others guide the Henrietta museum to increasing regional recognition. Nell is survived by her husband of 76 years; sons Courtney of Metairie, Louisiana; Robert of Henrietta; Edward of Arlington, Virginia; two daughter-in-laws, five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, a cousin, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, siblings, and one son, Lawrence. Nell's family thanks the local community for decades of friendship, and the caregivers, doctors, nurses, lab technicians, etc. for assistance in her final years. Instead of flowers, Nell requested that donations be made to the Clay County Historical Society, 116 North Graham Street, Henrietta, TX 76365.
Published in The Times-Picayune from May 15 to May 17, 2019